Digitalization of Academic Libraries in Higher Education Institutions during COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

Dr. Muhammad Shoaib, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Gujrat, PakistanFollow
Shamraiz Iqbal, PhD Scholar, Department of Gender Studies, University of Punjab, PakistanFollow
Gulshan Tahira, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, University of Gujrat, PakistanFollow

Date of this Version

10-7-2021

Abstract

This paper aimed to examine the digitalization of academic libraries in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the current pandemic named the COVID-19 outbreak affected all the educational institutions in the global south and global north and Pakistan has no exemption. For this study, a quantitative stud design was opted to conduct an online survey from the library patrons. A sample of 1052 library users had been selected from public sector universities from Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention here that the google form was shared with 6852 library users through an email and WhatsApp numbers taken from universities concerned administration offices. Similarly, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis had been employed to draw results and conclusions. The study findings revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between independent and dependent variables. Similarly, the COVID-19 infection, physical distancing, online periodical, online services, and online audio/video material had favorable effects on the digitalization of library material.